Our Review

Adopting a bit of the MO of a popular chain back on the islands, this bright North Park storefront offers chicken inasal, grilled bird the Philippine city of Bacolod is famous for. Marinated overnight with garlic, vinegar, and the citrus fruit calamansi for tang, this is really good chicken, distinguished by a balance of salty, sweet, and sour overlaid with a smoky whiff from the grill. A two-piece serving comes with a small serving of atchara, sweet pickled papaya, as well as rice topped with crispy garlic. Other Filipino classics include pancit palabok, rice noodles in a thick achiote sauce with shrimp, squid, smoked mackerel, and hard-boiled eggs; or oxtails stewed in a thick, sweetish peanut sauce (you can add some funk to taste with the shrimp paste served on the side). And should you show up on the weekend you'll have the opportunity to supplement your libido with balut, the infamous boiled fertilized duck-egg embryos.